The Devil Saw My Smile
by iSackettEcho
Summary: The life of Finnick Odair, from his youth in the arena to his death in the revolution. Finnick 1st POV. "Mama always said if the devil'd ever catch a glimpse of my smile, he'd come out to play." Rated T


The Devil Saw My Smile

Summary:

The life of Finnick Odair, from his youth in the arena to his death in the revolution. Finnick 1st POV.

_Mama always said if the devil'd ever catch a glimpse of my smile, he'd come out to play._

_And ladies did come out to play. With me. Their new toy._

_Then, there was Annie, the crazed girl I fell madly in love with, all while serving as a forced prostitute in the Capitol._

_Finally, like a ray of sunlight, Katniss Everdeen appeared in the Games—our Mockingjay, the image of our revolution._

_No more prostituted liaisons, no more murdered children in the arena, no more injustice at the hands of our government._

_I'd given my life to protect Annie. And I'd give my life to see this revolution through._

_After all, it is all going to be one hell of a ride, isn't it?_

Chapter ONE

I raised my hand to cover my eyes as I gazed across the sea to the bluffs in the distance. The wild cove's winds carried their words to me.

_Finnick._

I heard my name on the breeze, and I shivered.

_Finnick._

There are stories that a man's soul can be carried away on the tides by winsome creatures just by the sound of their enchanting voices. I do not know where such a woebegotten tale came from, but the tales always scared me nonetheless. I liked my soul where it was, firmly in place between my spine and sternum.

My name came to be again over the blue waves of the sea, and I squirmed to follow it, to swim to my friends and make the last dive off the cliffs.

"Begone with you, son," my father growled. "You're not minding your line, and so's I'd be better off fishing without you." I squinted through the sun to look at him. He did not look so gruff as he sounded. "Go meet up with your friends. Follow the tradition."

I didn't need to be told twice. I handed off the rod to Da and drove off the dory and into the chill ocean water. I came to surface and tread water for a few seconds, glancing back at him, but he was already looking away, tending to his line. I drove ahead and made fast headway. Because I was _fast_. Always fast. Hardly anybody in the district could beat me in a swimming race. My body was sleek - sinewy and long - strong and lithe in the way it matters in the water. Water was my element, and I daresay the water loved me. I don't know if man came from water or land, but I supposed if there were any such myths, I'd believe my ancestors to be of the ocean sort.

I swam across the sound and finally let the waves carry me to shore, riding the crest, bodysurfing across the water and right down onto the sand. I leapt to my feet and ran for the rocky path leading up to the cliffs.

I reached the top, out of breath, but not winded. I curled my toes over the sparse, rough beach grass and breathed in the salty scent of the scene, gazing out over the cliff and at the ocean world beyond. I loved it here; I felt like the king of the world. I suppose we all did.

"Odair, finally, you made it!"

"Yeah, yeah, we thought maybe you weren't coming."

I saluted my age mates and friends in greeting. "Tradition is tradition."

And it was. The tradition ran back to my father and his father and his father - or, for as long as anyone could remember. Every boy and girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen made that jump, even if they screamed and pissed their pants the whole way down.

Because it could be the last chance to do anything big or scary or stupid for the rest of our lives. Most people will never do anything scary or stupid, all for the fear of dying. But when death stands before you at the ready, the question of to jump or not to jump... well, it was your one and last chance to decide. So everyone did it. _Because there might not be a next year._

For the two tributes, most likely there wouldn't be.

In comparison, the Games made death by cliff diving the best way to go.

Just then, something grabbed my hand. I flinched and looked down.

I guess I should have said 'someone,' because it was nine-year-old little Annie.

"Not here," I scolded her, jerking my hand away. She had a weird thing about always wanting to hold my hand.

I glanced around to see if anyone had seen. It seemed only Gaelan had, and he being her big brother, he was used to Annie and her antics.

Gaelan and Annie were my neighbors, their house three houses down from mine along the sandy lane near the sea. She was one of those kids who had eyes so pretty it made you jealous that she had them and not you. Her eyes were green, and they were innocent and ominous eyes. Normally, she was a horrifically shy girl. Anyone who looked twice could see that – whether by the way she hid behind the nearest person or the way she stuttered for an answer if attention was suddenly focused on her.

The only person she wasn't shy around… was _me_.

For whatever reason, she felt it her duty to remain, completely fearless, by my side. And honestly, that could sometimes be really embarrassing. Imagine trying to flirt with a hot girl when a nine-year-old girl is clinging to your hand and trying to drag you away.

So damn embarrassing.

Like right now.

"Hey Finn. Glad to see you made it," Valerie Dara smiled as she sauntered by, her eyes sliding over and down my bare chest and abs. The hottest girl in my class, and Annie was there the whole time, trying to recapture my hand. When she was gone, I glowered down at Annie. She only pouted rebelliously in reply.

Gaelan laughed. "Like you'd be able to tap that anyway."

"Didn't you see the way she looked at me?"

"Like you were a crazy freak with my kid sister clinging to you?" He shrugged innocently.

"I should kill you." I growled again.

"Probably," he agreed, cheerful.

Annie tugged at my hand for attention. "Finnick, is it scary when you jump?"

"Sometimes," I answered truthfully. There was no point in bluffing Annie. She got the truth out of me one way or another – whether by tears or by trickery, neither of which I much cared for. "When the weather's bad."

Whether the weather was good or bad, we always jumped. The first year I jumped, a hurricane was heading in. I almost drowned. Two actually did. Four had been resuscitated.

"The weather's good this year!" she said, smiling sweetly up at me.

I gazed out over the horizon. The waters were calm, and the skies were clear. "It's beautiful."

Gaelan finally had mercy on me. "Hey Annie, Finn has to jump soon. Wish him good luck and go stand back with everyone else, alright?"

She shot him a dirty look but wished me luck with a comical salute.

We stood in silence with the other tribute ages and listened to the conversations going on around us. The topic of conversation just so happened to be career tributes.

"Maybe I should just volunteer this year, like the career tributes in Districts 1 and 2."

"Don't be an idiot. Like any of us would come back alive."

"Hey, it's not like we haven't had career tributes before. It's not like we don't have our share of winners."

"Idiots. Who would actually want to volunteer?"

"Looks like a lot of the older boys are talking of volunteering," my best friend Gaelan whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, I heard." I didn't think it was just a bad idea, but I didn't say so out loud.

"It's crazy talk. We haven't had a volunteer in years."

"Things haven't been this bad in years," I said.

"That's true. The Capitol has been sucking us dry."

"Careful. The winds talk," I warned, repeating the common mantra of warning.

He nodded silently in reply, glancing of his shoulder. "Well, maybe it's a good thing if there are volunteers. It will lower our chances of being chosen."

"Yeah," I hedged, not liking the idea as much as he clearly did.

Unfortunately, he picked up on my hesitation. "Wait... you're not thinking about volunteering are you?" When I didn't answer he pressed, "You know that's suicide. No one comes back in their right minds."

"Sure they do." Not that any came to mind. "Most of them."

"You are thinking about it! Finn, you can't do that!"

"Why not?" He made me feel perturbed. I tried to swallow it.

"Because it's crazy! Because you'll die." His breath was hot on my neck, standing far too close in his anger.

I snorted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Promise me you won't." When I didn't answer, he elbowed me in the ribs.

"It's my turn to jump."

"Finn, no, wait!"

But his protests were lost to the wind as I ran to the edge and jumped, without even that first peek over the edge to see what was coming. I spread my arms wide as I fell and watched the horizon line, the gold falling across the world and red shooting across the skies.

Then, I did look down. The air rushing up over me stole the breath from my lungs, and I let out a whoop as I raced to meet the dark blue ocean below, possibly my last death race.

I tilted my body down into a nosedive, stretching out my hands before me, waiting for the moment when my body met the water and I sliced through it. I wondered if it would hurt; it always did, every year.

And hell, it did.

I met water, but it didn't feel like water. It felt like earth.

I collided. I sliced through the surface, and I lost track of my body as it sunk further and faster than I thought possible. I spread my arms and legs to slow my dive, and finally I shot back towards the surface. I swam and I swam, and I saw stars as I found I wasn't nearing the top.

At last, I broke the surface of the water, gasping for air and searching for the coast through black spots in my vision. Suddenly exhausted, I swam into an eddy and let the waves push me to shore. I lay on the beach for a long while, half in the water and half in the sand, gasping and laughing.

"Pretty amazing, isn't? Every damn year, and it's still just as exhilarating."

Shading my eyes with a hand, I glanced up to see Donny Dodgers standing over me. He was an eighteen year old upperclassman. This would be his last year in the reaping.

"Miss it, will you?" I grinned wickedly.

"Did anyone ever tell you, Odair, that that smile of yours is going to get you killed?" He offered a hand to pull me up.

"Everyday." I grasped his hand and hauled myself to my feet. I felt righteous unsteady, but I tried not to show it.

"Doesn't look like the warnings do you any good." This time, his grin was wicked.

Behind us, back at the cliffs over the bay, a high-pitch squeal rang through the air. Together, we laughed at the hysterical outcry. I laughed even harder, knowing it must be Gaelen.

"See you around, Odair," Dodgers called as he retreated back to his group of friends.

After I hauled Gaelan out of the water, we sat for a long while on the sand, watching the sun preparing to set. When the last had jumped, those too young or too old for the games came back down the path to the beach. Bonfires were lit, but no tales or songs were sung, for these were the days foretelling our woe.

"This could be our last day," Gaelen whispered mournfully, crouching next to me on the hewn logs we used for benches around the fire.

"Yeah, maybe."

"You're not really going to volunteer, are you?" His blue green eyes reflected tragic sadness in the firelight.

"No, I guess not. I was just thinking about it, you know?"

"Yeah. That's good. So long as it's just thinking." He bobbed his head, relieved.

"Let's go home."

"You mean, let's go home and have our last meal with our families."

That was Gaelen, king of optimism. "You're really morbid, you know that?"


End file.
